Preaching Jesus Christ

We’ve been in Mexico for about three weeks now and have been able to get situated in our new home. We have definitely experienced the grace of God in His leading us in our move and ministry here. In fact, it has been much easier this time compared to the last time we were here. The Lord, with great ease, has given us a place to live and has directed our steps in ministry here.

BRADEN

As I said, we left our place in New Mexico about three weeks ago and headed to Braden’s place in San Diego. It was about a twelve hour drive without any problems. Braden is a brother I’ve know since 1997. I met him shortly after Lisa and I were converted. We’ll be working together primarily with Braden while we are here. Braden is almost fluent in Spanish, and this will be his first time doing ministry in Mexico. He works a full time job during the week and comes down here on the weekends to do ministry together and to fellowship. Lisa and I are very joyful to be working together with our brother in Christ.

RENTAL HOME

Once we arrived at Braden’s, we drove down to Rosarito to meet with a rental realtor that I had met when I was here about a month prior. She took us around and showed us several furnished/almost furnished places that were for rent. Thankfully, we were able to find a place on the first day. Before we came to Mexico, the Lord had given Lisa a dream that we would be in a larger place than we were used to, and the place we are in is certainly larger than the previous places we’ve had. It’s a two story home in a fairly quiet part of the town and is really close to everything. It has plenty of room for brethren to come over and fellowship, room for bible study, and room for the kids to have a play area. I know most homes in the States have this sort of thing, but we’ve been traveling and living in a travel trailer for almost two years now so this is definitely a blessing AND most of all seems to be where the Lord would have us at this time. Here are a few pictures of our place:

(btw, the satellite is our neighbor's)

Not only did we find a place rather quickly, but the Lord has also kept us healthy. When we were previously in Mexico and in India, we got sick within about the first week of being in both places. Right now though, our family has been (and is currently) in good health. Praise the Lord! Along with being healthy, the Lord has provided for our needs here by brethren who have graciously given to us. In fact, when we left New Mexico, we didn’t have enough money to meet our needs here. Since we now have a monthly rent payment with utilities, we didn’t have enough funds to furnish the place or to buy food! However, when we arrived in California, we received two donations that we normally don’t receive on a regular basis that allowed us to purchase everything we needed! God is certainly faithful to supply all our needs when we walk by faith and follow His leading!

BROTHER NOAH

Last time I was here, I met a Mexican brother named Noah. At that time, he would go to the streets pretty frequently to pass out tracts and talk to people about Jesus. Brother Josef and I were able to take him out street preaching and spend time exhorting him in the Lord. I was hoping to meet back up with him when we came. I had tried to call him before we got here, but his phone number wasn’t working. Once we were here, I tried to drive to the church I knew he was attending. However, I was unable to find the church. I came to find out that it had actually burned down twice since I was here last, and now there is no church in that place. So we prayed and asked the Lord to help us meet up with him. A few days after we moved in, I was talking to our new landlord. She was telling me about a church she used to go too. As she was talking,, I was thinking it sounded very familiar to Noah’s church. I asked her if she knew a brother named Noah and told her what he looked like and she immediately said, "Yes!" They actually used to go to the same church, and she told me exactly where he was. Noah was staying in a small room in the back of one of the tamale shops on the Blvd. I drove down there and was able to see him. It was great to see him again and to see that he’s still following the Lord and preaching. In fact, he’s out street preaching about four days a week. I’ve gone out with him several times since we’ve been here. Two of the places where we preached are places that we are planning on preaching regularly.

ROSARITO JAIL

Since the last time I was in Mexico, Noah has gotten permission to preach inside the Rosarito Jail. He usually goes there about once a week. I’ve gone with him a couple times, and I preached to the inmates the last time we went. Noah and I, with Braden as well, are going to start going there more frequently, as we can go any day of the week. The Rosarito jail is a great place to preach because it’s a small, local jail where the turnover is very high. Usually a person is placed in there for some small offense and then released within a day or two. These are people that usually live in Rosarito, so there’s a good chance of being able to see them again when they are released. When I preached there a couple days ago, some of the guys were telling me they were arrested for no reason. They were simply picked up by the police and put in jail. In America, one might be suspicious of someone in jail claiming innocence. However, at least in this part of Mexico, if someone says they were picked up for no reason, there is a real good possibility that they are telling you the truth! A lot of times here, the police will pick up people walking on the streets and arrest them hoping that they’ll be able to get some bail money from them. Whether they are innocent or guilty, their being in jail gives us a great opportunity to preach biblical truth to them using their current situation as an analogy and a springboard for the gospel.

DRUG ADDICTS

In addition to going to the jail, Noah took me to a place where he preaches in Tijuana. The local police call the area “the conflict zone”. It’s an area in Tijuana that borders with California. This is an area where people gather who are usually either homeless, drug addicts, prostitutes, or in gangs. Needless to say, it’s a high crime area and a pretty dark place. When we went down there, we took small meals we had prepared (rice and beans) to feed about 60 people. The park where most of the drug addicts gather is right next a real busy highway. However, at the present, we are not able to preach in the park, because if the police see you preaching there, they will arrest you right along with those using drugs in the park. So, we have to cross the highway on foot (quite an experience) and preach near the border fence. This last time we went, there were about 45 or 50 guys that Noah was able to preach too. The good thing is that since many of the guys lived in the US at one time and were deported, some of them speak English. I spent my time passing out gospels and talking to a few guys in English. After preaching for about 30 minutes, we then fed as many people as we were able to. The whole outreach reminded me of our time when we used to preach on the streets in South Dallas. The difference here though is that many of the people actually listen to what you are saying,, and you can have meaningful conversations with them about the Lord. In South Dallas, when we were doing ministry we would also take food with us. The difference was that in South Dallas, most of the people weren’t really hungry, and sometimes they would even complain about the food you brought! What a learning experience! In Tijuana, it’s very different. If you’re homeless in Tijuana, you most likely spend many of your days hungry with very little food. Here, everyone seemed really thankful for what we had brought. It’s a place I definitely believe the Lord would have us labor at this time. Again, myself, Noah, and Braden are planning on making this a regular place for ministry with a couple outreaches a week there. Here are a few pictures:

In addition, we are also working on getting letters from government officials in Tijuana that would give us permission to preach in Tijuana jails and on the streets without having to worry about the police taking us to jail. Lord willing, we’ll have this worked out soon! Also, brother Braden has written a gospel tract and translated it into Spanish, so that we can use it in our outreaches. We’re also working on getting them printed. If you think to, please keep all this in prayer.

Again, I want to thank each of you that pray for us. Please keep us in prayer. We are praying that the Lord would add to His kingdom through our labors here. May the Lord bless you IN Jesus Name!

IN Christ, Sean & Lisa Scott

Comments

Elisabeth

11/10/2010 19:29

Hey! I was just thinking about you all. Glad to hear that you are doing well and doing ministry. God bless

Reply

Lisa Scott

11/10/2010 19:50

Hi Elisabeth,

Great to hear from you!

Yes, we are doing well, by God's grace!

Yes we are doing ministry with the Lord, BUT the thing is--- we never left ministry even when we were sent on a mission from God to do work in the mountains. The mountain was certainly not glamorous, but still it was God's work and the ministry He gave us at the time.

Whatever God calls us too is great, right? It seems though whatever works are considered low in man's sight is God's greatest work (especially in us!)---Obedience is whats important. One of the greatest test for Saints is--will you obey God even if it doesn't make sense and it seems foolish to many??

Sean is surely happy to be doing evangelism again, but no regrets in spending time with God in the lonely mountains and being trained in many ways..

Thanks for dropping in and saying hi. Pray all is well with you and yours.